Selling to prosperous port cities would generate the main income, and thanks to their official permission for Sailors, local trade monopolies wouldn't be able to deny them trading opportunities.
Thinking about all this, Bill smiled and continued working. Unbeknownst to him, he realized they successfully crossed the Calm Belt and entered the East Blue.
Unfurling the sails after exiting the Calm Belt, the crew felt a sense of satisfaction as the ship picked up speed. They were heading to Loguetown, the place where the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, was executed.
Bill didn't know much about the true history of this event, but he was intrigued by the person. He knew enough about pirates from his past life to understand that the title "Pirate King" was usually just a label given for commercial or political gain.
Henry Avery, William Kidd, Edward Teach, and many others came to Bill's mind as examples of how their deeds were greatly exaggerated for profit.
However, he reminded himself that in this world, people had superhuman abilities, so it was entirely possible that there was more truth in these stories than the press reported.
While he might never learn the true story behind the so-called Pirate King, Bill understood that his goals were much more down-to-earth than hunting for mythical treasures like the One Piece.
After several more days of sailing on course, Bill was surprised by how many islands they passed. Six islands in three days were quite a lot, and he ensured that Ricky recorded it.
One of the islands was particularly large, and though they only saw it from afar, it was clearly the size of an entire kingdom.
This was good news because since setting sail from the Little East Blue, they simply followed the Eternal Log Pose. If they crossed a few more islands, Bill thought it might become their first trade route.
Another week passed, and they crossed several more islands. Now Bill was confident it would be a trade route: crossing a dozen islands in a month was just a great opportunity.
The crew sat on the main deck, having breakfast with pickled eggs and boiled sea king. Rans joked about Yoko's messy hair, which got the girl so riled up that she bit him on the head.
Her bite was so strong that even though Rans ran around yelling that he'd been "bitten," she wouldn't let go.
In the open sea, one had to find ways to entertain themselves. The crew either became a family or bitter enemies.
The morning break on the main deck was always an important part of the day for their team, because there were few of them, and since their duties were mostly individual, you could say that breakfast and dinner were the only times when all the crew members gathered in one place.
Leaning over the rail, Bill read the East Blue Herald—a publication he hadn't heard of before, and he was surprised by what it said.
The article talked about the alleged destruction of Krieg's Armada and how the most famous pirate crew of the East Blue had disappeared.
However, directly in front of Bill was a large, battered dreadnought-class warship—just as described in the article.
The large pirate ship was clearly visible to the whole crew, and getting ready for battle, Bill sent Yoko to the bridge, instructing Miyagi to watch over her during the fight.
He didn't know what to expect, but the newspaper claimed that a bounty of 17 million Beli was set for Captain Krieg, and another 20 million for his lieutenants. The ship was enormous but in a pitiful state, and its ragged sails creaked in the wind even from several hundred meters away.
Because of reports about Krieg's large crew, they weren't going to take any chances. Bill, Sasha, Rans, and Ricky all jumped overboard. Fia stayed on the Frontier Breakthrough with orders to sink the pirate ship if anything went wrong.
"Are you all ready?"
Seeing the three nod, Bill leaped forward, and they followed him.
At the peak of his jump, Bill grabbed the free hands of Sasha and Ricky, while Rans awkwardly used the Moon Step to keep up.
From the angle they were approaching, the ship's deck became visible long before they landed, and what they saw surprised them. By Bill's quick assessment, there were about two hundred and fifty men and women on the deck of the massive ship.
They all looked emaciated, and as they got closer, Bill saw signs of scurvy on many of them.
The four marines landing on the pirate ship's deck barely caused a reaction, and looking around, Bill said to Rans, "Go back and tell Fia to prepare a lot of soapy water with lemon juice.Bill arrived on the ship intending to fight any pirate he encountered, but seeing the people in such a condition, that no longer mattered.
Since they were here, they were naturally captured, and Bill didn't want any unnecessary deaths.
"Understood!" said Rans and headed back, while the other three moved forward, stepping over the barely moving bodies